Another Day
by ForeverWanderer
Summary: Five years after Link was sent back in time, peace still reigns in Hyrule. But what does a day look like in a Hyrule untainted by war? And what wars might still wage in the hearts of its heroes? An exploration of life after Ocarina of Time.
1. Dawn

**Another Day**

OoT- Link has been sent back in time to relive the childhood he lost, in a Hyrule that never knew Ganondorf's torment. But what does a peaceful Hyrule look like?

* * *

**Dawn**

Zelda watched the mist that rose from the fields, leaning against the parapet of her balcony as the blue of pre-dawn permeated the land. Pulling her shawl around her as a shield from the early autumn chill, she sighed- her breath came out in white clouds, hanging in the air. Another day.

The princess liked to get up before sunrise. It gave her a few brief moments of quiet and solitude before her guardian, Impa, came to wake her and her duties began. The day always followed a similar path. Handmaidens surrounding her with lace and jewels and an intimidatingly severe gown. The dresses seemed to become increasingly dour with each day. A luxuriant breakfast and then court, where her father the King heard the requests of the commonfolk and mediated conflicts. On days when court wasn't held, she mostly shadowed her father to learn the subtleties of ruling a kingdom. Then afternoon lessons: history, politics, war strategies and tactics, fencing and archery. Ever since the Gerudo King Ganondorf disappeared five years ago, her father had been wary, wondering if Ganondorf was hiding in the desert preparing an army. He started training Zelda in the ways of war, should his worst fears be realized.

Zelda, of course, knew better. It was the Kokiri boy, Link who sealed Ganondorf away in the Sacred Realm. He had told her what happened- that simply taking up the Master Sword had beckoned the Goddesses to seal Ganondorf forever.

Something told Zelda, though, that Link hadn't been telling the truth. Because her own sense of peace felt tenuous at best. That Hyrule was enjoying such prosperity felt... unnatural. This, of course, filled her with a constant underlying guilt. She _wanted_ prosperity for her people. But she had this strange feeling that she and Impa were supposed to be hiding in abandoned hovels and burnt out villages, not enduring lectures on battle formations or etiquette for visiting dignitaries.

And she wondered often about the Kokiri boy, who looked so grave when he returned from the Temple of Time and since then, has never stuck around much. Her friendship with him felt interrupted. Perhaps he resented that she had asked of him what she had... she was sure he did more than just lift the master sword to rid Hyrule of whatever threats Ganondorf posed. But no one knew the truth- not the king, not the people of Hyrule... not even she. And five years had passed. She thought his skills that he gained in retrieving the three spiritual stones would be useful in the Royal Guard, and he could hone his skills by becoming a knight- but he never pursued it, he just... paid his respects, said goodbye... and left.

There was a knock on the door.

"Zelda?" Impa's voice sounded from the other side. Time to wake up.

With one last look at the lush landscape of Hyrule, Zelda turned back inside. Tea and crumpets. A conflict between Kakariko and the Gorons was scheduled for mediation today. Then history of Hylian battles, etiquette and protocol, and archery. In the evening, a dinner party welcoming the duke of Catalia, and afterward a night of dancing and revelry. If she was lucky, though, her afternoon lessons would end early and she could take an afternoon ride with her favourite horse, Goldwing. Perhaps she'd take one of the paths that ambled through the woods and up the mountain, or maybe she'd cut through Hyrule field and ride to the lake and play her ocarina on the shores where she wouldn't be disturbed. The others at court thought it was a childish instrument. Perhaps one day she'd learn lyre, which Impa had been pressuring her to learn, or pianoforte, which her father favored. But she felt a connection to the ocarina. It was unpretentious, and its sweet notes sounded like the wind over reeds. Sometimes it almost felt like, if she played the right song, she could call back to her something she'd lost.

But she didn't know what she could have possibly lost. Everything she could want- peace, prosperity, tranquility- was hers, right?

Sighing, Zelda crossed her chamber to the door where Impa waited on the other side, and let the Sheikah guardian lead her down the spiraling stone steps. The day awaited her.


	2. Morning

Morning

Heat liked to trap itself in the stables, and Malon found no refuge here from the last burning days of summer. Nevertheless, the shade was an improvement to the glaring sun. Malon wiped her hands on her apron and donned an old pair of gloves. Feeding time for the horses. Most were out to pasture- only Epona was in the stables. She had a bit of a limp and needed rest. She'd been snappy to the other horses and might have been rough-housing. Malon knew Epona was restless. Too bad she refused to be ridden, or she would be glad to take her out.

Two flakes of hay went to Epona, and Malon grabbed an armful to bring to the others. She stepped back out into the midmorning sun.

Time had been good to Lon Lon Ranch. Profits coming in from the milk were used to expand the ranch- now there was an extensive garden that grew specialty herbs and vegetables. They sold on market days in the castle town and Kakariko. Even the Zoras bought from Lon Lon Ranch. Talon had fired Ingo long ago- he was always skulking and didn't seem to take any joy in the work. Malon was glad to see him go. She suspected he wasn't treating the horses right. Talon hired two young boys from Kakariko and they did just fine.

The horses had been expecting Malon and the trotted over when she opened the wide creaking gate to the pastures. She tossed flakes of hay on the ground, making sure they had enough space to eat. Scents of basil and spicy arugula wafted in from the gardens- and roses too, which Malon had planted in front of the house. She breathed the scents in as the breeze lifted. Perhaps later, when the evening cool set in, she'd walk along the fields and collect wildflowers. Brushing hay off her dress, Malon left the pastures and came back to the wall, climbing a ladder to a makeshift lookout platform her old friend Link had made for her. From here, she could see the gates of Hyrule Castle Town, and even the castle towering off in the faded distance. Death Mountain, too, loomed not far behind.

The ranch girl's eyes turned toward the forest farther south. The forest where her friend Link said he grew up. Fairy Boy, she called him. Link always laughed when she called him that.

"Where I'm from, I was made fun of for _not_ having a fairy," Link once told her, "So the nickname is fitting." He was a strange kid, to be sure. She missed him, whenever he went away on his odd adventures. He'd been away all summer now. He was fun to have around, and he always worked hard, trading a day's labor for a good meal, some lon lon milk and, on occasion, a bale of hay to sleep on for the night. He was also good with Epona- he could calm her down in an instant. The nicest thing, though, was that they shared a love of music. He'd pull out his ocarina and play harmony to her singing. They could make music together for hours.

She wondered where Link was, how he was faring out in the wide world.

The mid-morning sun blazed on unforgivingly. Enough daydreams, Malon thought. There was plenty of work to be done. She had a long day ahead of her.


	3. Afternoon

Afternoon

A chorus of cheers and zaghareets filled the air as Nabooru dismounted her steed and lost herself among the throng of Gerudo screaming excitedly. Tournament was won! Competition had been fierce but the day was hers, and her friends gathered around her with desert flowers to add to her garland.

The tournament had many events: archery, both standing and on horseback; hand-to-hand combat, knife-throwing and sword-fighting. Nabooru knew she would prevail in archery and sparring, but she also happened to have a little luck with archery on horseback, which is what, in the end, won her the day. Perhaps she shouldn't call it luck. A few months ago, a Hylian came riding in like he was the king of the Gerudos and challenging anyone in a shout's distance to a match at the target. Well, no Gerudo woman was about to let a man waltz around without learning his lesson- even a young man- but each was bested, one by one. Only Nabooru could offer him a true challenge- but even she couldn't out-shoot him. Gerudo don't take a liking to outsider men... but this one had proven himself, by all accounts. And more than that, Nabooru thought- he was friendly. Yes, he was a restless teenager, cavalier and aggravatingly nonchalant about jumping the ravine with his horse (the bridge had been out for years- the Gerudo left it that way on purpose). Nabooru had been among those on watch at the ravine when the Hylian rode into view and didn't even blink as he rode his stallion hard, clearing the rift like it was no big thing. And then beating every single Gerudo at the fortress in archery AND sword-fighting? Unheard of!

"If our king was still here, he would be wearing your skull on his necklace!" One particularly angry woman had taunted him when he bested her for the fifth time.

The Hylian's eyes hardened for a moment. Then a strange sadness seemed to fill him, and his anger faded away. He bowed to her.

"My condolences for your missing king."

This only infuriated the guard further, and she stomped away in a huff.

But from watching this encounter, Nabooru knew the Hylian was kind. Did he somehow know what happened to the Gerudo king? Nabooru knew he had been an evil man. From the flash of anger in the Hylian's eyes, she gathered he knew something of the king's evil, too. That he set aside his own feelings to offer a gesture of peace told Nabooru he was kind at heart.

For Nabooru's part, she was glad the Gerudo king was gone. Even if only one male was born every hundred years, she could still do without him. He was truly evil, and sometimes she felt like she was the only one who could see it. All the others were happy to serve him, to have him as their leader, to offer themselves to him- but she had dreaded the day she'd be called upon for such a duty. Thankfully, he had disappeared when she was ten, before she was old enough. She was grateful for this every day.

Everyone else, though, bemoaned his disappearance. They had all loved him, or at least were loyal to him, and none of the others would have begrudged a good romp with the only male Gerudo. Why had she been different? Why was she the strange one? Thank the Goddesses he had disappeared, gone these last five years. If he had remained, her loyalty might have been called into question. Now, she could just pretend to grumble and grieve like the rest of them, and secretly rejoice.

Perhaps the Hylian somehow saw that in her, for in him she recognized a kindred spirit. Like her, he seemed not to want to take orders from anybody. So when he bested her at archery on horseback, he didn't relish in his victory, or boast to the others, of treat her low, trying to coo to her or paw her like she might expect. No- he said, "It was luck, mostly. Really. But let me show you a trick, that I learned..."

He didn't just show her a trick, though. He hung around for a few weeks, training her, correcting weaknesses in her stance or her aim. And _that_ was how she beat her opponents in tournament today. So perhaps she couldn't take full credit for winning so brilliantly over her peers- but then again, why not? Maybe there was an extra quality in her that compelled the Hylian to teach her. And if that quality had awarded her new training, then was it not also a quality a warrior would desire?

Nabooru and her friends were making their way back to the archery range, where Nabooru had dominated so easily, and where they would celebrate with carefree, uproarious wild dance while her opponents came to her with plates stacked high with offerings of meats and sugary fruits till late into the evening. Nabooru and her friends- her supporters, her mentors, and her underlings, who loved her and were loyal to her, not knowing the secrets of her heart- would dance till the moon had long set in the indigo sky, blanket to the endless desert she called home.


	4. Evening

Evening

Evening was a tricky time among the trees. Sometimes it seemed to last until true dusk, when the sun set- but many days, and in an unpredictable manner, typical of the moodiness of the lost woods- the afternoon light would be swallowed by the forest, and the children who wandered its meandering paths would all too quickly be shrouded in darkness.

Saria, unlike anyone else, remembered everything. Link remembered everything, too, but after five years, she didn't count him, for he refused to speak of the before-times. Before Time was torn asunder by a sword and a king of evil and a princess' prophetic dreams.

And Link. Her Link, caught in the middle. Wielder of the blade, pawn in a deadly game. It was too easy for her to blame the princess. The Princess of Destiny, a fellow sage who saw the way out of the Age of Darkness that Ganondorf sought to begin. For she called to him with the power of her dreams, drew him into this- and, conveniently, she had blamed herself. But no- the blame lay with Ganondorf. It was wrong to blame Zelda for having the wisdom to put Link in danger- against her own wishes, Saria was sure- for the sake of the world. Still...

Saria shook her head of these evil thoughts. She had come to the Forest Temple in search of peace- and still it eluded her. Even now, in the strange early twilight of the twisted trees... was there not a way to find quiet, to soothe the soul, to let fall these bitter thoughts?

But on an evening like this, it was near impossible. For the forest felt too alive... and she missed him too much. This was just the sort of evening when, once, not too long ago, he would have sought her out in the Kokiri village and insisted she go on an adventure with him.

Five years ago, all that changed. She should have known- he wasn't like the rest of them, after all. She always knew she wouldn't have him for long. But all too soon, he was gone.

Saria went to the Forest Temple often. From there, she would scry him, watch his adventures, make sure he was safe.

She couldn't just see Link- she could see all the happenings in Hyrule. A privilege of being a Sage. She could especially see what occurred in the forest, and it was forest that concerned her. For the Deku Tree Scrub was taking over the many duties of the Deku Tree- but Saria was afraid. The memories of the old Deku Tree were lost. Things had changed. For the first time in hundreds of years of living, Saria had a deep feeling that the peaceful existence of the Kokiri would end. And soon.

But maybe it wasn't as bad as all that. Maybe it was just that she missed Link- with all her heart and soul- so much that she felt like a raw nerve, that any moment, she would be consumed by the ache and welcome the end. Perhaps missing Link just made her fatalistic. Perhaps the Kokiri Forest- and all of Hyrule, really- were doing just fine.

In the meantime, she came here more and more often. Played her song, even though she knew he'd never come. Not here, to the Temple. Sometimes he visited the village, but he was becoming a man now, and the children barely recognized him.

Saria let out a sigh, pulled out her ocarina as the light changed ever so gently in the Forest Temple's clearing. She was playing for a friend who would never truly return, it was true- but she was also playing for the trees.

Playing for them now, releasing those soft, sweet notes into the quiet, she could feel the presence of spirits from long ago. One day, she knew now- she would join them. And others would take up the song, and play to her.


	5. Dusk

Dusk

The shadows stretched long over Hyrule Field as the sun set behind Death Mountain. Link let out a breath he felt like he'd been holding forever. _Hyrule._ He was home.

He'd lost track of how many months he'd been away. It did not matter, really. Hyrule was a timeless place- maybe he only came back to make sure nothing had changed. In fact, thinking on it now, he knew it to be true. If it weren't for that nagging fear that everything would change- revert to what it had been _before-_ than he'd never come back. He'd wander towards the horizon until there was no more, until the world ended in a cliff and a sea of stars.

But no- the before times still haunted him. Waking up a man, to a land that was dying. Much of it was vague now. Years had passed since he was sent back in time to be a child again.

One thing that did not remain vague, though: Link had caught sight of her, riding hard from the direction of Lake Hylia, trying to reach Hyrule Castle Town before the drawbridge lifted. Link's heart thrummed in his chest. He had no control over it, after all these years. He breathed a prayer of thanks to the Goddesses that he had stopped in the shadows of the forest's edge and remained unseen.

He had loved Princess Zelda once, more than anything. He would have died for her. He had proved that, every day. Their souls were one and the same, and once, they had shared a destiny together. But she! She had taken that away. Why did she blame herself for sending him on the quest when it was the only choice? None of it was her fault. What _was_ her fault was sending him away to a childhood he no longer wanted. What he wanted was _her_- to be near her, to help her rebuild the kingdom. To love her. And as Ganondorf's defeator, he _did_ have a chance at being worthy of her and winning her hand. But here? An errant knight? What was worse, he didn't believe what she believed, that by sending him back, her own timeline would be gone. Somewhere, out there, in the time that he belonged, Princess Zelda was rebuilding her destroyed world, alone.

Link took a breath, inhaled the fragrant mists rising out of the Kokiri forests, through which he had just ridden. He tried not to think of these things, even as he could still see a silhouette of her off in the distance. Maybe she was right, after all. The whole kingdom sprawled out before him in the red of the setting sun, pristine, untouched by evil hands. Maybe this was as real- more real, even- than the desolate waste he awakened to once, long ago. And if so, then the whole kingdom of Hyrule prospered, even if his heart had been broken.

Link took one more deep breath. Tried to bring himself back to the present. This was always the hardest part- these first moments of arrival, when it would all come rushing back.

Link closed his eyes. The sounds of the forest- the birds, the scurrying of animals, the whispers of the lost woods- beckoned to him, promising an evening of revelry among the pipe music of kokiri ghosts.

When he opened his eyes, he caught sight of another figure, one that had waved as the princess raced past on horseback. It was Malon, gathering wildflowers as the sun's last crimson rays slanted across the field. Taking one last look to make sure the princess was long gone, Link made his way out into the open. Malon caught sight of him and waved. He raised a hand in return.

"Fairy Boy!" She exclaimed in greeting when he was near- her voice had gained a distinctive lilt- the result no doubt of her constant singing. She reached down for her basket of heather, tucked back a lock of red hair that fell in her face, and stood, walking down the gentle slope of hill to the path to close the distance between them. Link was overwhelmed with the sudden desire to pull her into a big embrace, to lift her and twirl her around in a circle- but he held back, stopping a few feet short of her.

"Ranch girl," He said by way of awkward greeting, and laughed nervously. She let out a hearty laugh, however, and took him by the arm.

"Long time since you've been in these parts. Fancy some dinner?"

The evening lingered sweetly over good company and good dinner. Talon shook Link's hand vigorously and roared in an absent-minded, good-natured way for the cook to prepare another seat at the table. Link was secretly overjoyed to find that the ranch was doing so well. The three of them talked late into the evening about horses, dairy, Hyrule, and the business of a ranch. Malon spent much of the time in serene silence by the fire, working the wildflowers into woven bracelets. Link agreed to work for the next few days in exchange for straw to sleep on and meals- he also wanted to share some horse-training techniques he learned in Catalia- maybe they would help that rogue restless mare of theirs.

Afterward, he and Malon walked out to the stables and the pile of hay where Link would sleep.

"We have a guest room now, you know," Malon said with an amused smile, watching him climb up the stacks of hay, so high he could pick robin's eggs out of the nests in the rafters.

"Yeah, but where's the fun in that?" Link shoved his pack into a corner for a makeshift pillow. "Hey, how is that platform doing? No rot, right?" He climbed out the window onto the roof of the stables, and over to the platform. Malon met him there, using the normal way.

Outside, the moon waxed a luminous full and Link's heart felt suddenly anxious as Malon climbed the ladder and settled in next to him. They sat for a long time in silence, watching the pale face of the moon.

Malon was beautiful, Link admitted to himself. When had she become so lovely? Her eyes were bright and innocent and her voice was dark and mysterious, and she had an ease with which she moved, the grace of a dancer. And her singing! Link could listen to her sing forever. He only wondered: did she have a sense of adventure, like he…?

"Tomorrow's market day, will you come help me at the booth?"

"Of course."

"Maybe we could visit the Temple of Time afterwards, I love how that place makes even the silence echo."

Something sank in Link's heart, old memories like twisting thorns. Malon seemed to sense his disquiet- she changed the subject with a soft confession.

"I've been meaning to tell you something…" She turned to ace Link, and her eyes shimmered in the moonlight. "I- I think you should take Epona with you- when you leave next, that is."

Link was surprised, in spite of himself. "Why do you say that?"

"Well…" She tucked away a stray lock of hair. "She's… restless… she never befriended anyone, all this time- except you. And… well… she was meant for more than this small ranch life. You should take her with you. On your adventures. She will love it. And she loves you." Link couldn't tell if Malon was blushing, for a second there. "She loves when you play ocarina, after all. Will you take her?"

Slowly, he nodded. Malon gave a sigh of relief and they fell into an odd quiet after that, until Link finally said,

"Malon, have you been to Lake Hylia?"

"No… I don't really get to ride out that far, with all the work around the ranch…"

"Would your Father object to me taking you there for a day, if I stay on an extra while to keep up with the work? I want you to see it, I want you to see how the sunset looks against the waters."

He continued to describe it to her, and realized, as he did, that there was a lot he wanted her to see: the beautiful deserts of the Gerudo lands, the deep forests, the hills of Catalia, the rivers that twisted and turned and drained into the Sosarian Sea. The ghost villages of forgotten kingdoms, the empty temples and whispering woods.

They talked late into the night- the moon had set when Malon finally bid him goodnight and climbed down the ladder, returning to bed in her room. Link watched her go and, when the light in her window was once again dark, he turned back to the dusting of diamond-hard stars in the sky and, for the first time in what felt like an eternity, he felt like he'd come home.

***End***


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